It was EastEnders fans’ turn to dig out the tissues tonight as Carol Jackson was told by her doctor that she has breast cancer.

Given the unfortunate task of having to tell her daughter Bianca and on/off lover David Wicks her tragic news, it was another example of soapland moving away from comfort viewing in favour of more traumatic and realistic storylines.

Carol (Lindsey Coulson) found a lump on her breast before Christmas and had tests on Christmas Eve but had decided to keep it hidden from her family. Eventually David found out about the lump and forced her to collect her results in tonight’s episode.

Twitter was flooded within moments of Carol’s sad storyline airing and it was evident how difficult viewers were finding balancing both this cancer storyline with Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper’s (Julie Hesmondhalgh) storyline, who is dying of pancreatic cancer.

Between Hayley Cropper and Carol Jackson… Shall I just jump off a Cliff now before it gets any worse? #Corrie#Eastenders